Fr. Doug Ebert was born at the leading edge of the “baby boom” in 1946 and grew up in St. Paul’s Midway district as a parishioner at St. Mark’s and attended their parochial school. At that time, St. Thomas Military Academy was only three blocks away, so, like his older brothers, he attended high school there. Upon graduation in 1964, Fr. Ebert attended Regis College, a Jesuit institution in Denver, Colorado, where he graduated in 1968.

Shortly thereafter, in response to a draft notice, he joined the Air Force and became a pilot flying transport aircraft and served in Vietnam. In 1973, Fr. Ebert entered the reserves and was hired by American Airlines where he spent most of his career in Chicago. He retired as an international captain in 2003.

Fr. Ebert has been in the railroad passenger business as an operator of railroad passenger cars in charter service since 1970 and was employed as a dining car cook for the Great Northern Railway during his college years.

Music is one of his passions. He is a song writer, guitar player, and he has experience as a professional musician.

Since his youth, Fr. Ebert had passively resisted the call to the priesthood. In 2003 he opted to accept early retirement and began his second career as a day student and officially entered the seminary in 2005. After five years of study and at 62 years of age, he was ordained a Catholic priest on May 30, 2009.